Another week

Hola,
So this week has gone by very quickly but i must say i am absolutely exhausted. I feel that i needed a vacation from the vacation. We had dinner with the sisters on Monday and that was lovely. I almost feel bad being around them because they are genuinely the nicest people you can every meet. But at the same time it is refreshing and it gives you new hope in what i am doing. I had to sub for a couple of the Basketball P.E. classes because the normal teacher had to go take a computer certification class. Some of the kids were skeptical, but then i dunked on one of the kids and then they listened. It was awesome i basically jumped over him. (he was 7, but that doesn´t really matter) last night Thursday we went to the Candelori families house to celebrate Connie´s birthday. Connie is 11. There family is great and they are a ton of fun to be around. The only exception to this rule is oldest daughter, who is kind of crazy and i am pretty sure that she keeps kitting on me. I have to strategically position myself at dinners and i find myself using the young kids as shields. Then again that is life. It is fridar now and we have a short day and then it is the weekend so that is nice. got plans for a seafood night tonight with the ChACEr´s or the Gringo teachers from Notre Dame. So that should be a nice little outing, but then again i am looking forward to some R and R.

Thursday September 18, 2008
Today was Fiestas Patrias, and we went to the Cantelori family’s house and had a wonderful dinner. We got to house at around 3ish and stayed until around 11:30. We had a tremendous amount of meat, which made my hick self really happy. You have to give credit to the Chileans; vegetarians are a lost cause in this society. Today we also met the local drug dealer and gangbanger. He is actually an American ex patriot. We talked to him for a while and he ended up offering us whatever we needed. I think he meant more drugs, but he also gave us some warnings about the neighborhood. He then gave us his number if we ever needed anything and he also said that he told all of his “people” to look after us. If was interesting to encounter what would be classified as an American “gangster” in Chile. We ended up talking to him for a little bit, and although we live very different lifestyles he was supportive of what we were doing. We do live in a shady neighborhood and it is weird having the protection in the area from a drug dealer.

Saturday September 20, 2008
Brian, Michelle, Sarah (a friend of Michelle’s who works in the south of Chile) and I went to Oliver’s families for the day after Fiestas Patrias. Oliver is a younger guy who works in the Pastoral with us at school. His family lives in the Campo, or the country. They taught us the Cueca, which is the typical Chilean dance. It was very comical seeing four fairly tall Gringos dancing with a bunch of Chileans. They were all very patient with us and walked us through the steps teaching us how to do the dance. The dance could be compared to a strutting of a rooster in which, the male tries to attract the attention of the female. Of course the female plays hard to get, but we did kind of get down the basics. Their abuela or grandmother was phenomenal and busted out the guitar for the Cueca. She has apparently been playing since she was 15, so I guess 57 years of practice and you would get pretty good at it. We then went to the rodeo, which was pretty fun to see. Oliver told us that we needed to come out to the country to truly experience Chile and it’s culture and not just the commercial festival that is in Santiago. It was fun to meet his family and to experience a “typical” Chilean festival. The rodeo had typical bareback riding and some of the typical games. In the end, Michelle really wanted to ride a horse, Oliver talked to one of his cousins, who was a cowboy and got her a horse. It was cool how inclusive everyone we met was. One might think that the cowboys would be offended for having a Gringa ride during their festival, but instead they were very accepting and welcoming. I got to try some different foods and what not from the country. One that I tried was charqui or what we call jerky. It was actually horse jerky, and it tasted like it sounded. It was like eating meaty hay. Everything besides that was delicious, but that was a little weird for me.

Picture

So here are some pictures
http://picasaweb.google.com/johnnypaul8888

The Start of Fiestas Patrias

Sunday September 14, 2008
So we had the festivals at school on both Friday day and also Saturday night. Friday at school was a half-day in which we played a bunch of traditional Chilean games with the kids. I was in charge of Taca-Taca, which is Spanish for foosball. I don’t really know how this is a typical Chilean game, but whatever. My event finished very quickly so I ended up going and helping the elementary kids in a blowing up and popping balloon race. A lot of the kids were unable to tie the knot on the balloon so I just helped them out a bit. It was fun to see everyone enjoying all the festivities. The classes were all let out early because it was September 11th. It is weird here, because in Chile September 11th is the day that there are mass protests and manifestations to protest against the past and current treatment of the government. Across the whole country everyone was let out early to be able to get home safely, because there were a bunch of barricades and riots that took place. Most of the damage was done by pissed off adolescents who just wanted to go out and destroy things. (cars and stores seemed to be the primary target) It was funny because we received a warning from some of the students saying the tonight is a good night just to stay in doors. Yet, the kids on our street said that because we live in a “bad” neighborhood that we were actually safer, because all of the kids were going off to destroy things in the rich parts of town. I think a lot of the kids in the neighborhood were participating in these events, so they were not going to destroy the place where they lived. It is sad to think about this kind of unnecessary violence and the whole mob mentality. How would things be different if the kids new that they would be responsible for their actions?
Friday we were back at school for a morning of more games and festival competitions. The class that I have come to be closets to is 2nd Media A. Which is a sophomore class that we have gone on retreats with, I also teach them English and I am, in part, in charge of them in the morning for homeroom. This is the time between 8:30 and 8:45, which there is prayer and reflection time. The classes here are very close-knit because they all share the same classroom and course schedule beside the few electives or Tallers. They are all around good kids and it has been dun getting to know them. The kids set up a brunch like little festival in which they made hot dogs and played games in class. Again there were competitions between the different classes on who could dance and do the different traditional games. After this we went out with all the faculty at school to a luncheon, in which they served us a bunch of great grilled food and then some of the faculty danced the Cueca, which is the typical Chilean dance, with some of the performers at lunch. Brian was brave enough, or was pressured enough, to go and do they Cueca which was fun to see. He did pretty well, especially for being a Gringo. Then Oliver, one of the teachers that I am becoming the closest with, went up and did it too. Unbeknownst to most of the other teachers, Oliver used to be a Cueca performer when he was younger and he was phenomenal. This made me start to think about the hidden talents that people seem to have and how we need to remain open to everyone. It is when you pre-judge people is when you get surprised. In this case it was a pleasant surprise, but in many cases we miss out on the “good” things in life when you bring your preconceived notions to the table.
Then that night on Friday I went out to the Theatre with Oliver, Michelle, and Brian. I have to admit that the play was an absolute disaster. Firstly, It was in “campo” Spanish (our hick style Spanish) that meant I understood about a fifth of what they were saying. Secondly, it was a shock art piece, and I think most of you understand how I feel about shock art. For those of you who don’t, I believe that shock art is art done by the crybabies of this world. Instead of being talented enough to create something beautiful and meaningful, these hacks take the easy route and simply try to shock or disgust you into creating a point. Needless to say when the Devil came out for a dinner of a large man sized rat on the table, I had already given up hope. Call me closed minded but I believe that this stuff is just trash.
Saturday was the Fonda, or the big festival, at school. I got there at a little before one and helped set up the booth and the stage before having mass at 5. The all school mass was very interesting and an mélange between typical folkloric traditions and the Catholic tradition. I was a standard bearer in the Mass, and I was worried the entire time that I was going to crush one of the kids that were lining the aisle. The mass went well, but the church was packed and made the event a pretty sweaty endeavor. After the mass everyone proceeded to the school for the food and dancing part of the festival. I worked mostly in the Pastoral booth, which made shish kebabs and also sold spiced wine. It was fun getting all the systems down and apparently the booth pays for the mission trip that we have in the beginning of January. It was fun being at the festival and meeting a lot of the parents of the kids that I taught and also meeting the families of the people that I worked with. At the end of the day, the festival finished a little after midnight, I was rather spent having spent the whole day at school going about a mile a minute. Then on Sunday we spent the day at home, just laying low before we had Vespers and dinner with most of the members of the congregations for el Dia de Neustra Senors de Dolores (the day of our Lady of Sorrows). The dinner was nice and I seemed to have stuffed myself again. I saw in the news that the average Chilean gains between 2-4 kilos (4.5 to 9 pounds) during the festival. Having eaten as much as I have already and the festival is still 3 days away I am beginning to believe this. This afternoon has been lovely and we are going to stop by the Padre’s house to access the Internet and to post all of this. The weather here is getting warmer so I think I am going to be able to wear shorts today, but the nights are still fairly cold. The next two days I am going to try and work on my Spanish and get a fair amount of reading done. Then starting Wednesday we have a booked schedule for the rest of the week until School starts again next Monday. Well I hope all are well and enjoying the beginning of school, the end of summer, and just life in general. God bless you all and know that you are in my prayers.

Birthday

Another year older. But I am still only 4 years older than some of my students and I am a fair bit younger then the rest of the teachers here.
My birthday went along swimmingly with a bit of a surprise party orchastrated by Brian and Michelle. I was of course oblvious to the whole thing because as i like to say i am a ¨big picture¨ person. So, there was a little surprise party at the Cantelori family house. The Cantelori family is a famly that we have been getting to know rather well. A couple of the teacher that i work with showed up and so did some of my Gringo friends. It was a very nice gesture and had a hefty a mount of food. The mom, i guess i would say my Chilean mom, (or at least one of them) made this rediculous cake that was the size of a small pontoon boat. I got some nice little gifts and just enjoyed being in the company of the people down here.
I appreciate all the birthday wishes from everyone and i hope that you are all well. I will post some picture of my birthday and the game later, but as for now i am off to teach some English.

Catch up September 8

To start off i will take you all on a little journey back to last weekend, where i have to admit i was a bit of an Gringo (American) on Saturday. It was the beginning of college football season and i was craving some good old American fries. Brian, my roomate, was leading the cheers during the Notre Dame San-Diego State game, (which Notre Dame struggled with winning). But we ate at this pretty decent little American Sports Bar in Santiago. It is called Basic Bar(shameless plug, but i told the guy i would spread the word, plus this is acutally howi found out about it in the first place) and is run by a couple of Americans guys and is basically the only public place in Chile that you can watch American college football. The food was good and there were surprisingly quite a few people at the place to watch the game. After that we went over to the ChACEr´s house and had a lovely little BBQ. One filled with all food groups; beef, pork and chicken. So, needless to say it was delicious. We decided to have more of a quiet night and so we watched Machuca, which is a very good Chilean film about the differences between rich and poor in Chile during the military take over. It is based at St. Patrick´s which is a representation of St. George´s, the other Holy Cross school here in Chile. I recommend it to anyone who has a little bit off time.
Also this weekend we went to the market as usual and stocked up on food for the week. Then on Sunday we stayed in and caught up on a bunch of our house chores and got ready for the upcoming week.

September 9th

So i just wish to thank you all for the birthday wishes. Sorry this will not be longer, but i have a longer document written at home and i will post it tomorrow. But i love you all and i hope that things are going well.

Wednesday September 2, 2008

Man it feels weird writing that. It is September and I don’t know where the time has gone. This week has been good, just teaching and what not. There was the finale of the Chilean soap opera that I was watching. It was called Don Amour and was as cheesy as the title hints at. The ending was terribly predictable, though the rest of the show was pretty eventful. I have come to realize that it has greatly helped accustoming my ear to the Chilean Spanish. The next couple of weeks are going to be hectic, I have some meeting and what not and school this week and next week is my birthday so that should be fun. I think that we are going out with the teachers after our class on Tuesday, (Tuesday nights Brian and I teach the professors and personnel English.) Then on Wednesday I am going to the Chile vs. Brazil soccer game, which should be a lot of fun. I am really excited about that. Then I think we are going out with the Padres and my community that weekend out to a nice dinner, so that should also be fun. Then we have the next week off because there is a National holiday on Thursday the 18th, celebrating Chilean Independence, which is on February 12. Yeah, I don’t know the answer to that obvious question either, but it is apparently a very big festival and should be extremely fun. We also just got word that Padre Erwin hooked up us with passes with Buenos Muchachos for the festival week. Buenos Muchachos is the nice restaurant in the area and is known for the food and also the typical Chilean Dances and music that they play there. The festival is apparently the big thing of the entire year; it is supposedly going to be amazing. A good way of comparing this would be that the festival is a huge concert or festival and we just got passes. So I am really looking forward to that, along with over a week.

Sunday August 31, 2008

So this weekend was rather fun, pretty event filled. Friday night we went over to Paulina’s house for dinner and a little get together with some of the other professors. It was nice to get to know the other teachers in a non-school sense. The language was a bit of a barrier but all around it was fun. I learned how to salsa a bit, the teachers have told us that they will teach us how to dance a little bit. It was fun to see everyone dancing the Quaka sp? Which is the typical dance here is Chile involving both of the dancers using handkerchiefs. Brian actually knows how to dance the Quaka so it was fun seeing him dancing this typical Chilean dance with some of the professors.
Saturday was pretty low key and we just laid low and did some laundry and what not, then after mass on Saturday night we went to Bingo night at school. One of the kids that I teach was in charge of the events so he elected me to participate in a round of musical chairs. Being the typical competitive person that I am I brought my A game and brought home the gold (the prize was a set of 6 glasses). Then after Michelle and Leah came over and we went out dancing with some of the ChACErs. The ChACErs are also Americans that teach at the St. George’s which is our sister school. Or the richer school that funds a lot of what we do at Andacollo. So, that was fun blowing off the steam a little bit and going out. I did have a pretty profound little moment waiting for the girl to come. I was outside checking to make sure that they knew which house it was when one of the neighbor kids ran up to me crying. His name is Fabien and is 3 years old. I crouched down to be at his eye level. (I habit I have noticed that I do a lot in school.) He immediately sat down in my lap and started to account for all the reasons why he had ever been sad. It was weird to experience absolute faith and trust, the trust of a child. The kids just run around the street playing soccer or some make believe game using hunks of abandoned cars as weapons or whatever. Here is Chile they call everyone Tio or Tia, which means Uncle or Aunt, and at the same time it seems that everyone does have that type of relationship with the kids, even if you have just met them for the first time. It has taken some getting used to, being called Uncle by over a thousand kids at school. Even by kids that are only three years my junior.
Then on Sunday we slept in and had lunch and watched a movie and just relaxed. There were also some purchases made for the house, which was pretty exciting. For example we just got an iron, which is nice.